Review: The Black Goat

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Author: Daniel J. Bishop
Publisher: Purple Duck Games
Art: Luigi Castellani
Price: PDF $2.50 – at RPGNow / at d20pfsrd.com / Paizo.com
Pages: 12 (incl. cover)

The Black Goat is the second release in the Campaign Elements line for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The Campaign Elements series is designed to be run with minimum preparation by the judge and provide “quest for it” areas. Whether your wizard needs a spell component or to be taught a certain spell, a rare metal or element for the crafting of a wondrous magic item, or maybe just a way to restore some ability damage, the Campaign Elements series from Purple Duck Games aims to fill this niche.

The PDF is 12 pages long including the cover and the OGL license information on the last page. A map of the mountain pass is included helping depict the gate system the pass residents have here. A rumor table covers twenty different rumors about the mountain pass and its inhabitants. In addition to eight encounter areas there is also a patron write-up for the Black Goat, this includes invoke patron checks, patron taint results, spellburn results, and a new patron spell, Silence. There is also a short section on getting the most out of the adventure with suggestions on expanding certain elements of the area.

The encounter area centers around a mountain pass that can be dropped into any hilly or mountainous region of a campaign world. The pass has been known as the Pass of the Black Goat, taking the name from a sphinx-like creature living in the pass.

The Black Goat is a spellcaster who could be a patron to a PC wizard or simply provide a resource for spells or other pieces of knowledge. A creative judge could find many ways to work the Black Goat into their campaign beyond the ideas suggested.

There are two factions of races that live in and near the pass. One race controls the gates of the pass, while the other group lives just beyond the pass. The factions do not get along with each seeking to control the pass. This friction between factions creates a wonderful backdrop for plots within a campaign.

The Review

I am once again quite satisfied with the direction the Campaign Elements line is taking. The Black Goat can easily spice up a mountain pass in a campaign or the Black Goat itself can be used as a source of knowledge or ability in “quest for it” situations. The two factions in the area provide several ideas for a DCC RPG judge to work with to weave this encounter area into their own campaign world.

I know in my current DCC RPG campaign I wrote my own adventure to handle some travel the party needed to do at the time. Looking back I could easily see this encounter area as filling that need with much less work on my part! I really like products that are so easy to plug and play into a campaign world. It does a lot to make my job as a judge easier from week to week.

Essentially, from this short 12 page PDF I get a detailed mountain pass, two rival factions, a patron-type figure, and a patron write-up. This can all be used as a whole or in parts by the enterprising judge.

The Black Goat proves the Campaign Elements line is off to a great start. I see this series a wonderful time-saver for the busy judge and is giving the opportunity to finally adequately provide some “quest for it” options to my players. If you run a Dungeon Crawl Classics game, you should definitely be keeping an eye on this series.

Review: The Falcate Idol

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Author: Daniel J. Bishop
Publisher: Purple Duck Games
Art: Luigi Castellani
Price: PDF $3.25 – at RPGNow / at d20pfsrd.com / Paizo.com
Pages: 15 (incl. cover)

Campaign Elements

The Falcate Idol is a new product line from Purple Duck Games for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG called Campaign Elements. The line is designed to help a DCC RPG judge create a persistent campaign world and provide patron quests, divine quests, or any number of quests to help fill the “quest for it” vibe of DCC RPG.

What is the “quest for it” vibe? It is an underlying facet of the DCC RPG game in that many things are possible. But to obtain these things such as ability score increases, great magic weapons, or any number of afflictions, the character must “quest for it”. It is not a simple matter of going to the magic shop to buy a magic item, but rather it is ancient story that tells of a location, pool, or any other source of ability to provide the character with what they desire.

In addition, the Campaign Elements releases are designed to be short adventures that can also act as something to drop in if you have some missing players on your gamenight. Typically playable in a single session, they are easy for a judge to pickup and run on a night where some folks are going to miss the game.

The Falcate Idol

This first release, The Falcate Idol, is a short adventure area detailing a cult’s sanctuary of a little worshipped patron. Within this sanctuary is the Egg of Creation with untold powers.

The PDF comes in at 15 pages including the cover. A map of the encounter area is also included, along with random treasure tables tailored to the sanctuary. In addition to the encounter area descriptions there is a short section on expanding the adventure or getting more from the adventure in the course of a broader campaign. There are of course new monsters as well.

The adventure actually has two items of interest in the same location. One is a spider idol with a gem told to be as large as a pigeon’s egg. Hidden within this same sanctuary is the Egg of Creation which is said to have great power in and of itself.

The Review

This adventure flowed quite well on a read-through and presented several hooks for a judge to use in their campaign. A creative judge is sure to find many, many more ways to use this adventure. I immediately thought of several ways to use it in my own campaign with only a few tweaks to get it to fit just right.

The length of the adventure should fit in most people’s single sessions. This is handy in a couple of ways – one, letting you more easily drop it in as something to run when short some players, and two, allowing you to use it with a “quest for it” adventure without derailing the whole campaign. The adventure can drop into an existing campaign world with minimal reconfiguration, if any.

The map is easy to follow and differs from some of Purple Duck releases other maps in their DCC RPG products. The map is simple, but I like the look of this one. It features an interesting layout without being cumbersome.

As noted earlier there are random tables included for treasure, unique items, and a spell effect chart. I liked the tables and several items on there could easily be borrowed by a judge even if an item was not found or used in the adventure.

The new monsters in the adventure are interesting and have some special qualities to help add to their mystery. The monsters can also be added to a judge’s bag of tricks for other adventures in their campaign as well.

I was very pleased with this adventure and this new product line. I think it fills a need in the DCC RPG market by providing areas a judge can use for “quest for it” type tasks. I think all judges are good intentioned, but sometimes time impacts their ability to come up with quests between major adventures to handle patron requests or desires of the characters.

This initial adventure looks to deliver on many of those fronts. I was easily able to insert it in my own campaign to take care of some recent requests and questions from the PCs in my game. It also is short enough to run without taking us too far away from the campaign as a whole.

This adventure is well worth picking up if you want to have a short adventure on hand or start having the PCs quest for some of the things they have been asking for. I look forward to the future releases in this line and hope they hit the mark as well as this one did.

Review: Masks

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

One of the things I have a lot of in my RPG book collection is generic books that help with setting. I like books on NPCs, businesses, countries, cities, or just odd encounters I can borrow and use. A good friend of mine who was one of the ENnie Judges in 2012 bought this for me for Christmas. It was in his opinion one of the best and most useful RPG books he saw that year and as an ENnie Judge he saw a lot. It also won the Gold medal for Best Aid and Accessory so a few other people agreed with his judgment. It is not an adventure but it is one of the more useful books I’ve found. The book is called Masks by Engine Publishing and written by the guys at Gnome Stew. It is a collection of one thousand NPCs and has been used each session of my current campaign.

Masks is an over three hundred page book of a thousand NPCs. The NPCs are written up without stats or attempts at stats. Sometimes a system less book tries to give combat ratings or make up their own stats that don’t correlate to any game. They don’t do that here and that makes me happy. The book is simply divided into modern, fantasy, and science fiction sections. Each of those sections is then divided into villains, neutrals, and allies. I have found though that I can search for a useful NPC outside of the genre I’m playing. The current campaign is a modern game but I’ve found NPCs in this book from the Fantasy and science fictions sections that work and work well.

The most useful aspect of the book are the indexes. They make it easy to keep track of the NPCs one uses. Each NPC is numbered one to one thousand. They each have a list of traits on them and in one of the indexes all the traits are listed with page number of an NPC that has that trait. So, if you need a mysterious NPC it is easy to find them. There is also an index of all the NPCs in alphabetic order. The index I found most useful though is one that collects NPCs into different groups. If one needs a crime lord and his minions they list the NPCs that would work for that. I would have liked if they would have done more of that.

With a thousand NPCs they are not all winners but there are plenty there to be easily used. This is the only book I have used for each game session and taken with me to each session. The main rule book we use doesn’t even get used as much as this book. One of the biggest uses for me is just names. I used to use a book called Everyone Everywhere that was a great name generator. Now we have the internet and names can be found much easier. Many times just the smallest spark is all that is needed to really get an NPC moving and this book defiantly provides that.

Chris Gath. I’ve been gaming since 1980 playing all kinds of games since then. In the past year I’ve run Pathfinder, Dungeon Crawl Classic, Paranoia, and Mini d6. My current campaign is mini d6 and we are using that for a modern supernatural conspiracy investigative game. On some forums I’m known as Crothian and I’ve written a few hundred reviews though I took a sabbatical from reviewing for a few years as it burnt me out. I was also an judge for the Gen Con awards (ENnies) six times. Jeff, the owner of this blog, is one of my players and a good friend.

Review: The Revelation of Mulmo

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Author: Daniel J. Bishop
Publisher: Dragon’s Hoard Publishing
Art: David Fisher
Price: PDF $5.00 – at RPGNow
Pages: 76 (incl. cover)

The Revelation of Mulmo was released several weeks ago from Dragon’s Hoard Publishing. The module is written by Daniel Bishop and comes in at 76 pages, including the covers. The adventure includes descriptions of 60 locations which consume the first portion of the book. The book’s appendix has a large section on patrons, including invoke patron checks, patron taint, spellburn and more. The module is intended for 3-8 4th level Dungeon Crawl Classics characters.

The Revelation of Mulmo is a site-based adventure location making it possible to drop into an already existing campaign world. The adventure also has the potential to return a fallen party member back from the dead. This can be a handy hook for a DCC RPG campaign where death typically isn’t resolved in a quick raise dead or resurrection spell.

The adventure takes place in a fallen elf-hill from battles decades past. Due to temporal oddities some lingering denizens of the hill still think this conflict is in progress. This temporal effect is sure to toy with the characters passing into the elf-hill as well!

The module includes one good, strong hook to get characters vested in the adventure. A creative judge can surely come up with some other hooks to get characters involved. Patrons can make the most unusual of requests sometimes in exchange for their favors!

The elf-hill itself is a rather large expanse of rooms and encounter areas to be explored. The module includes many new creatures fitting in with the DCC RPG mantra of creatures should be mysterious. A few new magical weapons are sprinkled in as well.

A magical sword called Alemourn in the module is a particular favorite. Without revealing too many details, it is another example of how I think magical weapons in DCC RPG should be. Magical weapons in DCC RPG should be something more than just a +1 weapon. The sword grows in power under a some unusual conditions. A fine example of how I think magical weapons should work in this game.

As noted above the appendix includes new patrons for DCC RPG. The patron write-ups do include invoke patron check results, patron taint options, patron spells, and spellburn examples. The patron spells do need written by the judge for their game, but the titles should help get the creative mind moving.

Several maps are included in the module showing the various levels, including very helpful exterior and interior side views. I always find these useful, as while some layouts are quite clear in the designer’s mind, that does not always translate well to the reader without illustration.

The Review

This thing is big and chock full of bits! 60 room descriptions, patrons, magic items, new and twisted creatures, and spells; there is a lot of information here. Compared to many other DCC RPG adventures I have read and reviewed this module is much longer in length and with a lot more material within.

I like this brings another option to the table for returning a fallen character back to the living. While DCC RPG does not have the “easy button” for bringing a character back from the dead, it does encourage question, planar travel, and any other number of Appendix N oriented quests to do just that. Sometimes a judge does not have the time to write their own quest to allow a player to bring a character back. Having another option added to adventures allowing such a thing is a good thing for time starved judges.

The adventure itself is interesting and sure to keep characters on their toes as they make their way through the elf-hill and the encounters within. The toying with time and temporal shifting is interesting and adds an element to the adventure to keep things uncertain and mysterious.

This is not the first adventure by Daniel Bishop that I have reviewed at The Iron Tavern. One thing I can count on in his adventures is the use of a mechanic in a fun and interesting way. An example from this module is the use of spellburn to power a certain effect or ability of an object. I do not want to reveal too much, lest spoil the adventure, but I like how he takes DCC mechanics and works them into an adventure in a way not first thought of.

While this module contains a lot of material for the DCC judge, I fear it may also be its downside. The trend in DCC RPG modules has been short and sweet. Even in my shorter two hour sessions over a VTT (Roll20 and G+ Hangouts), we can make our way through a typical DCC RPG adventure in three or four sessions. I suspect this one would take several sessions longer.

Perhaps it is just the trend already set that biases me towards the shorter modules, but I do have some concern my players would start to become a little weary of the adventure as we carried across many sessions. That isn’t to say any part of the module is “slow” or “boring”. Just I have found attention spans for longer modules is shorter in my DCC RPG games. I think DCC players might expect “bite-sized” adventuring.

I admit, my review is based only on a read through and not an actual play through of the adventure. So the length of adventure comments should be taken with the grain of salt. Sometimes the play through reveals things not expected!

Regardless, there are plenty of items to work with in this adventure. Whether tweaking it to run a little shorter, stealing certain gems from the module (hello 24 random skulls!), patrons, spells, or even just some of the new and unusual creatures. So even if I end up not running this module in its entirety, there are numerous pieces I can use from this adventure that I feel it still has value.

The artwork within the module was done by David Fisher. There are a lot of interesting art pieces inside the module. The color cover of the module with red eyes looking over the party from behind is certainly enough to draw one in!

The Revelation of Mulmo is another impressive module from Daniel Bishop. I continue to enjoy the material he produces for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG as he explores various reaches of the DCC RPG essence and system!

What do you think?

So what do you think about long modules versus short modules for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG? Do you want to see more longer modules like The Revelation of Mulmo or would you rather see some shorter ones?

A Look at Thieves’ World

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

In Sanctuary someone is always awake especially when others are sleeping.

Most people that play RPGs have a favorite setting. Mine is the city of Sanctuary from the Thieves’ World Anthologies. It is a series of twelve books with short stories by different authors all taking place in the same setting of Sanctuary. The first was published in 1979 and the last one was in 1989. There was a short revival done in 2002 but I’m going to talk about that in a later blog post.

A friend of mine gave me the first book to read about 1988. So, I was not on the cutting edge of Thieves’ World and barely being a teenager did not help. It was not until 1996 that I learned there was RPG material written for it. Since then I’ve more than made up for it. I played in two Thieves’ World campaigns and ran a third. I have copies of each of the original books plus the novels that some authors continued to write about their characters. I have the collected graphic novels and the not so great board game. I have multiple copies of many of the role playing supplements including the original Box Set. Now, as much as I love the setting and the books I will say they are not always great. Some of the stories are pretty poor, especially by today’s standards. But overall it forms a great setting and one of the best for low magic gritty fantasy role playing.

Sanctuary is the city and it is founded by runaway slaves and pirates. Depending on when during the novels one uses the setting, it may be conquered by a far off power or free. Either way the place is a dump. There are inconsistencies in the stories about the city. It is described as a place full of crooks and thieves but at the same time is an operating city. The map makes the city seem a lot smaller then I envisioned in the stories. There is a character named Cappen Verra who is called the only honest man in Sanctuary. While the saying is in jest it does help set the tone that few people in the city are trustworthy. When running a game in the setting I feel the DM and PCs need to sit down and decide just how cut throat the city will be from the start. There were times the PCs would travel around the city with their pots and pans for fear of having them stolen in my games. When I say our games were gritty and dangerous they really were.

The Thieves’ World Box Set is a great product for people familiar with the setting. The box set does not provide a lot of setting information and only covers information in the first two Anthologies. It does have a player’s guide that contains some basic essays, some written by the authors of the short stories that detail information the players should know. It has good information in it to help get the feel and some understanding of the city and its history. However, today it does seem like gamers would want more than the books provide. I would use it as a good starting point and allow the players to also read the short stories to help get a solid feel for everything. The GM’s book is filled with additional information and tables for random encounters. There are tables for the different districts but more specifically for major or minor streets and then for day, evening, and night encounters. There is a third book in the box set of the many personalities. It gives a small paragraph on the many characters from the books. The bulk of the book is devoted to the stats of the characters in many different game systems. The box set is not written for one game system. It is kept purposefully generic so almost any fantasy game can easily be used.

The maps in the box set are the main reason I have multiple copies. There is a large map of the city I had laminated. It allows for a wet erase marker to be used and then wiped out. It also allows everyone at the table to see the map in front of them and to understand where the different districts are and the different places. There are very few defined buildings in Sanctuary. There are tables so if one needs to know what a specific building is it can easily be determined randomly. We had year long campaigns were the PCs never left the city so the maps were an important feature. One area of the main map is left blank, a place called the Maze. It is the most dangerous section with no main streets just side alleys that twist and turn around buildings. No one knows the entire Maze so the area is kept on a different map so the players won’t know where they are going and can get easily lost in there. The third map and another one the players should not see is of the sewers. The sewers can be used to get around in secret if one knows the way. Knowledge of the Maze and Sewers is important and a potential opportunity for the PCs to can earn money as guides.

There are also a few modules and supplements that came out for Thieves’ World. I don’t have them all but I will talk about the ones I do have. I’ve only run one of the three modules, the one titled Traitor. The module is made to use with the pre-made characters. Each works for Jubal, a local and wicked crime lord. One of the characters has stolen something but Jubal does not know who. He wants the characters to figure out who it was and return the item or he will have them all killed. Each character has a write up of them being innocent and of them being guilty so it could be any of the characters. This is the first RPG adventure I recall seeing this type of set up and I like it. The first time I ran it though some of the players got frustrated with the mystery and decided to just kill one of the group and claim that he is the criminal. I found a perfect resolution for Sanctuary.

Other modules include Dark Assassin in which the PCs are trying to stop an assassination and Spirit Stone which focuses on the S’Danzo a human race of travelers attempting to get back a sacred artifact of their people. The main use we got from the adventures was more information, more NPCs, and maps of different places in the city.

In addition to the modules there is a Supplement called Under the Beysibs. It covers books three through six and events that I hear the most people complain about. There is a city book called Carse which I think is supposed to be the same Carse mentioned in the Thieves World books but honestly I’ve never seen anything that confirms or denies that.

This is just the first in what I plan to blog about Thieves’ World. Next up I will talk specifically about the campaigns and the how using different rule sets altered the feel and expectations of the game. We played just three campaigns but each campaign used a different rule set.

New Classics: Paizo Modules J1 and J4

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

Entombed with the Pharaohs and The Pact Stone Pyramid

Today I bring in a couple of my favorite Paizo modules both written by Michael Kortes. One is a sequel to the other, though they can easily be played as separate adventures. They share similar themes of pyramid exploration and bring in more than just the usual dungeon crawling. I believe these are the best pyramid based modules since the Desert of Desolation series that I still need to run for my current group. We did play through both of these modules and I believe my players had as much fun playing them as I did running them.

Both modules are set in the Golarion setting in the country of Osirion. If you are not familiar, the country is a fantasy version of Egypt though not as dead on as say Green Ronin’s Hamunaptra. The setting is important to both modules so it will reward groups that use it specifically in the Osirion country but the modules are not so attached to it that it cannot be pulled away and placed in a homebrew or other similarly themed setting. When I ran them they were placed in my homebrew setting with zero issues of compatibility.

Both modules are also written under the OGL and before the Pathfinder RPG came out. I think this might be one reason I rarely see mention of them or other modules from this period of Paizo’s publishing. I ran these using 3.5 D&D so I did not have to do any converting but I don’t believe it would be difficult to convert these into newer or even older versions of D&D and like RPGs. One aspect that makes them a little easier to convert is the modules are not very large. Each module has a little more than a dozen different areas in the Pyramids with encounters that lead up to the actual pyramid exploration. These days I think I prefer these smaller modules and the ease they can be completed in. I think each of these took us a session or two to finish. Entombed with the Pharaohs is for sixth levels characters and the Pact Stone is for eighth level characters.

Entombed with the Pharaohs

Entombed with the Pharaohs starts with some good pulp feeling adventure. The bad guys are introduced at the beginning and there is an auction the PCs need to win to get clues on where the Pyramid is. I like that it doesn’t just start the PCs at the base of the Pyramid, though one could easily ignore the first part of the module and do just that. The module has great sidebars that tell additional information. I like the one on the numerology. That one can be focused on to add more depth to the mystery for the PCs to figure out. There is also plenty of information on what the bad guys are going to be doing so it is not just rooms waiting to be explored. There is a race to see who can get the treasure first. There is a good variety to the encounters with some just tough combats and others are minor puzzles. There are some great references to planet watching and another planet in the Golarion solar system. This is just hinted at in the module but would be easy to expand on especially since now there is a book on the other planets. The module is self-contained but hints at a much bigger picture for DMs to have fun with. For a small module there is a good deal of mystery and information that can be built on or ignored without damaging the adventure

The Pact Stone Pyramid

The Pact Stone Pyramid is quite different but the general themes are the same. One could probably combine both pyramids of the modules into a much larger dungeon crawl or just have this be a tougher area in the first module. But I like them as separate places especially with the hints and foreshadow of the first module to the second one. Like the other module the Pact Stone Pyramid has a rival group that is there before the PCs, but having difficulties. There is a lot of potential to bring back old NPC nemesis or allies here and introduce some new ones. Getting into the Pyramid and by its initial guardians is a challenge and not the easiest thing to figure out for PCs that stop and delay trying to. There are plenty of cool encounters and mysteries to be figured out. Like the other module this one to hints at events larger than the module and between the two modules it seems to prophesize a large event that is coming soon and clever PCs can figure out exactly how long they have.

Both modules appear to still be in print and I’ve seen them occasionally at used books stores. It should be easy to pick them up for people interested in them. They have a great pulp feel that could actually aid in converting them to other non D&D like games like Hollow Earth Expedition or Adventure. Modernizing the rival factions but keeping the magic and fantasy elements of the modules could make for some fun 1920’s pulp adventures. With the foreshadowing of something evil coming, the numerology, and ancient books that the modules reference it could make these a good starting point some Call of Cthulhu adventures or even a more modern Delta Green version. Running the modules for these games would take a bit more work for the GM but would be a good surprise for players that might not be expecting adventures like these. The modules have a plenty of potential to be used in fun and creative ways.

The New Classics: Stonesky Delve

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Iron Tavern Guest Blogger

There is a shared experience in gaming that I miss. When I meet adult gamers I can usually talk about Tomb of Horrors or the Sinister Secrets of Salt Marsh and even if we’ve never gamed together we can talk about what it was like to play or run these classic modules. Even for gamers that never played them they have at least heard of them.

Today that shared experience is more difficult to find. There are so many different kinds and versions of RPGs people play and countless adventures for them all that it even if I talk about adventures from the largest companies like Wizards of the Coast or Paizo the chance that others have played the same modules is rather small. With that in mind I humbly offer the following as a new classic. A module that I feel people should play and have fun with.

Stonesky Delve is an OSRIC module written by Joseph Browning and published by Expeditious Retreat Press. It is the fifteenth in their Advanced Adventure line. At the risk of sounding biased Joe is a friend of mine whom I have gamed with on many occasions. I was a play tester for this module and when Stonesky Delve was first published it was run as a tournament at Gen Con 2010 and I was one of the DMs Joe asked to help him with the tournament. I enjoyed the module immensely and when I was running Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG earlier this year this was one of the few modules that I had to run for that group.

Before I get farther in there will be spoilers but not a lot. There will be talk of some specific encounters but mainly just the general themes and feel of the module.

Stonesky Delve is a module for six to ten adventurers of levels four through seven. The front cover says it is for four to six adventurers and I think that is a misprint but while challenging I think you could go through this with fewer characters. The setup is rather simple. A new cave has been discovered and needs explored. In the beginning text it does have a time limit as it is a module for a tournament, but that can be ignored without significant impact to the module. The time limit does help keep the PCs moving and the way the module is presented makes that an interesting factor.

The module is designed to run in two sessions. The first session is cave exploration. It is really well designed to do this. There are small spaces that are difficult to fit through. Instead of many passages branching off left and right most of this module is up and down making it unlike other modules. Climbing is very important. The first part of the module contains animals, vermin and monsters one might find in a typical fantasy world cave. This goes a long way to making the cave feel real but also makes it tough on an adventurer’s pocket book. There is treasure within, but it is not obvious and not easy to find.

The second part of the module is part of an ancient Dwarven temple connecting to the caves. This area is not very large so it exploration in a four hour session and does feel more like a more traditional dungeon crawl. There are some places a TPK can happen and one of them is with a Dwarven wizard that can really be a problem. There are in module reasons for allowing a dwarf to cast spells, so do not worry about that. What I really like about the encounter is there are ten rounds of suggested actions for the villain. These actions are well thought out using the environment as well as the powers of the wizard. This guy should and will give the PCs fits, but it is also one of those great memorable encounters. The module also has one of the few encounters with a Flail Snail that I can recall.

Much of the treasure found is not coins. There are paintings and valuable pieces of furniture and many books. This creates a new problem as the group has to climb out of here and part of that climb includes a waterfall. The climb is much more difficult with a bed strapped to one’s back.

The module does have a few new monsters to keep even experienced players on their toes. My favorite is the Gampoge Hulk cousin to the Umber Hulk and is featured on the front cover of the module.

The module is good for parties that want to explore and fight and to face some different problems like how to safely climb down when the party runs out of rope. It is not a module that offers a lot of role playing opportunities or mysteries. There is a riddle to solve but most encounters are going to start and end in bloodshed.

When I ran it for DCC RPG I ignored the level requirements. The party was full of first and zero level characters, many who died with failed climbing checks. The monsters descriptions remained the same, but behind the screen the mechanics were mostly the same for each monster. They only had a few hit points and attacked with just a d20 roll and did maybe a d4 or d6 damage. Some encounters like the Wizard I prepped for, but most of the conversions were done at the gaming table behind the screen.

Stonesky Delve is a good adventure that offers something a bit different to most fantasy games. It makes mundane actions like climbing more important and challenging and focuses on the exploration and discovery more so than just wanton killing, though there is that too. There are rules for tournament scoring so you can keep track of what the PCs do and score them accordingly. It is a newer module and one I declare as a new classic.

What other more recent modules do you think would be great for other groups to play to get back some of that shared experience?

Review: Stars in the Darkness

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Author: Daniel J. Bishop
Publisher: Purple Duck Games
Art: Christopher Heilmann
Price: PDF $6.99 – at RPGNow / at d20pfsrd.com / at paizo.com
Pages: 38 (incl. cover)

Stars in the Darkness

Following quickly on the heels of The Waystation, Purple Duck Games has released another adventure in the Adventure Locale line. Stars in the Darkness is for 4 to 8, 3rd level Dungeon Crawl Classics characters. As part of the Adventure Locale line the module is designed to be dropped into any existing DCC RPG campaign with minimal effort.

This is the 3rd module written by Daniel Bishop for the Purple Duck Games. With Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror and Through the Cotillion of Hours Daniel has proven his firm grasp on what makes an Appendix N influenced adventure tick. Stars in the Darkness continues with Daniel’s streak.

In ancient times elven ancestors used to protect the stars. As time went by the stars appear to have lost their protectors and stars have begun to go missing. Some are lesser stars, others are stars that are responsible for luck being drained from the world as they disappear. Eventually as this luck disappears with the stars the PCs will become affected and seek to rectify this issue.

Once the PCs realize something very dear to them is being affected there are a myriad of ways to introduce the rest of the adventure to them. The heart of the adventure takes place in a “conceptual space”, allowing it to be dropped in any campaign with relative ease. This also leaves several avenues for a judge to get their PCs to the location.

The adventure includes a chart linking 30 important stars to each of the birth augers in the DCC RPG rulebook. As the stars are captured they will affect the PC’s birth auger. The included chart makes it easy to link birth auger to star, referenced by name, and a description of the star.

Several new creatures are introduced in the adventure. Perverted cousins of the elves, flying creatures that harvest the stars, and more.

The main portion of the adventure takes place in a conceptual space with large rifts and caverns the PCs must explore to rescue the captured stars. Making their way through this cavern the PCs must seek to rescue the stars they can and put an end to what is taking the stars.

The Review

While I have been impressed with the entire product line from Purple Duck Games for DCC RPG, I am always glad to see one authored by Daniel Bishop. My online group still fondly talks of Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror. I was anxious to see what he had in store for us this time.

Easy placement in an existing campaign is a staple of the Adventure Locale line. Stars in the Darkness remains true to that. I have already begun plotting introing this adventure at the first opportunity in my current campaign. It will still be a bit before we get to it, but it allows for a gradual introduction to an existing campaign.

As mentioned above, there are several new monsters for this adventure. New monster help keep long established gamers knocked off their game a bit, as they never know what is coming. The final encounters in the module are very well done as well with a couple of unique features thrown in to help keep things interesting and far from ordinary.

The stars disappearance being tied to the character’s luck being affected is an interesting mechanic. It plays well to the DCC RPG ruleset and is sure to quickly get the character’s attention and give them heartfelt motivation to resolve this issue for something more than treasure.

While this adventure is ready to dropped into nearly any campaign, it does require a thorough read through for the judge to get familiar with it. Nothing particularly difficult, but I get the sense this adventure will run better with some prep from the judge instead of trying to run it on the fly. Several of the earlier Adventure Locale offerings I felt could be run with minimal prep.

This looks like another very strong adventure from Purple Duck Games. It hits the Appendix N feel for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, introduces new monsters and interesting concepts. This one will be a hit with my gaming group.

Review: The Waystation

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

Author: David Przybyla
Publisher: Purple Duck Games
Art: Luigi Castellina, Marc Radle
Price: PDF $3.50 – at RPGNow / at d20pfsrd.com / at Paizo
Pages: 19 (incl. cover)

The Way Station

The Way Station by David Przybyla is the most recent release from Purple Duck Games for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG system. The Way Station is part of the Adventure Locale line written to be easily dropped into nearly any DCC RPG campaign with minimal prep. This adventure is for four to eight 3rd level characters.

The adventure involves finding a ventilation shaft from the ancient dwarven kingdom of Upanesh. A large network of tunnels connected the various wards of the Upanesh. Railcars would shuttle people and goods from way station to way station. Eventually these way stations came under attack from both earthly and supernatural beings.

Eventually the South March Way Station came under assault and a dwarf that was the chosen hero of Upan held the station as the others fled. This was the last the dwarven hero was seen.

The adventure is entered through a ventilation shaft that has been lost to time. A judge can easily work this into their campaign by either having the characters randomly come upon it, hear stories of an ancient dwarven kingdom, or perhaps even a child lost and discovered inside the ventilation shaft. Simple entry points like this make great strides to making the adventure easier to drop into a campaign world.

Once beneath the surface there are several unique things awaiting the characters. From a rather unusual rail car used by the Upanesh to the new monsters introduced in the module. True to DCC RPG fashion, none of the monsters found in the module are going to be ones the judge or players would find in a traditional monster book. Each of the monsters within are well done will make for interesting encounters.

A new magic item is also in the book. I do not want to detail it too much so as not to spoil the surprise, but I really like how the item works. One of the tenets of DCC RPG is that magic items should be special. The Way Station does this very well. The item has some story to it and has an interesting mechanism of gaining power over time in interesting ways.

The Review

It has been some time since Purple Duck Games has released a DCC RPG adventure. I was glad to have this one come across my path. I have enjoyed their previous adventures released for the system and they have been popular among my players as well.

Featuring easy placement into an existing campaign is always a strong point to an adventure when I use it. This one has just enough background to make it interesting, but still portable. Unique creatures for the various encounters help lend it the Appendix N feel and throw long seasoned players who can recite the stats for a troll from memory off their game a little. The unique magic item has an eloquent mechanic behind for those that wish to see it gain in power.

The download also includes maps for use on the Virtual Tabletop. One includes the numbering scheme and the other has the numbers removed. This is a very useful feature for the judges that run on VTTs. It is nice seeing a publisher taking notice and making their maps as easy to use with a VTT as they can.

I continue to be impressed with DCC RPG releases from Purple Duck Games. This is another adventure I look forward to working into my own DCC RPG campaign. There is also use to a judge who just wants to “borrow” the creatures and magic item from the module as well.

If your DCC RPG campaign is near the 3rd level mark, this adventure is well worth taking a look at. It is an another strong entry in an already strong adventure line.

Review: Interludes – Brief Expeditions to Bluffside

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Jeffrey Tadlock

The Iron Tavern received a copy of Interludes: Brief Expeditions to Bluffside (IBEtB) last week to review. This is a supplement for the Castles & Crusades system published by Samurai Sheepdog and written by Jeff Quinn and Peter Schroeder. This product is a conversion of the original supplement for the Bluffside setting which was d20 D&D 3.x compatible.

The PDF is 42 pages in length, including appendixes and OGL license information. The product is in black and white. The adventure is designed for 2nd level Castles & Crusades characters.

The product includes an extensive Table of Contents. Every major encounter area, NPC, and player handout is included in the table of contents. Each clickable to jump right to the correct location.

Next follows the adventure summary and background and then a course of the adventure section. These are quite handy for a CK to quickly see the flow of the adventure and make reading the rest of the adventure a little easier by having this overview in mind. The adventure centers around a kidnapping of a family from a small village named Kirkwood. The PCs will be investigating and tracking down just who orchestrated this kidnapping.

The rest of the book is broken up into three main sections. Kirkwood, The Holy Grove, and The Crossroads. Each area is well detailed with buildings, NPCs, and maps throughout. The level of detail makes the area feel more like a mini-campaign setting than a single adventure. The detail has both good and bad points, though the bad points can be easily turned into good depending on the CK’s approach the module.

After reading this adventure I felt like there was almost too much going on and this product would be better marketed as setting than an adventure. With the amount of detail and NPCs for even the village of Kirkwood a CK could easily use it as a base of operations and an instantly populated town with interesting people and rumors. The main adventure almost felt secondary.

The adventure arc was good, it just felt a little lost amongst the other detail. A kidnapping with a twist and one that ties a couple of power groups together. I felt the adventure was very solid and would be an enjoyable play.

The module strikes me as better if the CK goes into it with expectations of it being a mini-setting with an already provided adventure with several additional plot-hooks and suggestions for future adventuring in the area. Kirkwood could provide many, many sessions of adventuring between the as written adventure, rumors, and suggested adventure opportunities.

The product is lightly illustrated with a handful of graphics appearing within. There are numerous maps of the area, buildings, and such. The maps suffice, but I think they could have been of higher quality, the resolution seems a little low for several of them. It does not impact the usability of the map though, just the overall appearance.

Overall the product seemed a little rough around the edges, but given just a little bit of work and prep from the CK offers an excellent starting point for a campaign. The town of Kirkwood is wonderfully detailed. There are plot hooks sprinkled throughout via rumors and there are numerous NPCs for a CK to use to generate building their own. While it appears the PCs are meant to pass through the village, it seems like a good place for low-level PCs to call a base of operations.

If you are need of a lower level C&C adventure and possibly a place for your PCs to call home for a bit I think Interludes: Brief Expeditions to Bluffside is a good purchase. Just be aware that it needs just a little polish from the CK to really make it sing and make it your own.